Even if you feel like you have a pretty good hold on what deoxyribonucleic acid is and how it works, you will still appreciate this video. It might not add greatly to your depth of understanding, but it will please your eyes, tickle your brain, and remind you about the many wonders of the double helix.
The animated short was made by Territory Studio for the BBC. The video’s lead design, Will Samuel, explained that the style of the video was chosen so that it would “communicate the beauty and intricacy of DNA,” which it does perfectly. The animation and sequences seem very up-to-date, but it does have a definite textbook feel, which is exactly what Territory was going for. Among his inspirations Samuel mentioned two classics that practically all geeks are familiar with: Carl Sagan’sCosmos and IBM’s/Charles and Ray Eames’ Powers of Ten.
To make the video, writer Andrew Walsh and molecular biologist Dr. Matthew Adams got everything they knew about DNA (a lot) and boiled it down into three short minutes. They left out pretty much all the details — there is barely and A, T, G or C in sight — but chose to leave in big picture ideas, such has the effect of DNA on members of a species, as well as the similarities from one species to another.
The video is just a chance for people to dip their toe in the water. It touches on what we know about DNA, what we can do it with, what we don’t know, and how DNA can be manipulated. Everything stops there, though — at that point it’s up to you to take inspiration from the video to learn more on your own. The video even ends by saying “… but we still have much to learn,” which is exactly what most of us will feel inspired to do after watching it.
If you feel so inspired, I recommend you check out James Watson’s excellent “The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA”.
No comments:
Post a Comment